‘Pacific Rim 2′ Confirmed for April 2017

Though 'Pacific Rim' only made a little over a hundred million dollars domestically, the film had not only passionate fans, but a much larger audience internationally, which helped bring the $200 million project into a place where today director Guillermo del Toro announced that 'Pacific Rim 2' will hit theaters April 7, 2017.

April used to be considered an off season, but after the success earlier this year with 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' it seems Hollywood is rethinking their scheduling for blockbusters. That said, the film already has competition as it will be opening against the Fox animation title 'Ferdinand.'

This was obviously a slow decision in an era where sequels are often greenlit after an opening weekend, but that may have been because production company Legendary recently parted ways with Warner Brothers (who released the first film), and is now doing business over at Universal (and some have rumored that the Legendary/WB divorce is partly why 'Pac Rim' didn't do that well stateside), which may be why it's Universal who will be releasing 'Pacific Rim 2.' Besides the sequel news, del Toro also announced that the comic book prequel series will continue, while he is also working on an animated series that will cover the events between the first and second film.

Director del Toro said this to Buzzfeed (who first broke this news): “The characters I love will return: Raleigh (Played by Charlie Hunnam), Mako (Rinko Kikuchi), Newt (Charlie Day), Gottlieb (Burn Gorman) and who knows, maybe even Hannibal Chau (Ron Perlman) – but we are taking them into a fresh territory that will display amazing sights and battles. The first film set the stage and now we’re ready to have a blast.”